Colours Conspire To Overwhelm the Grey
by pullingbeckettspigtails
Summary: Once he's blinked the bleariness away from his eyes, he's met with the image of his gorgeous wife, the morning sun filtering in from their bedroom window making her hazel eyes look incredibly green, golden flecks showing as she smiles, the lilac bedsheet modestly covering her body, only her bare shoulders out. WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH


**Warning: Character Death**

* * *

As soon as Rick wakes up, he knows it's going to be a good day.

Once he's blinked the bleariness away from his eyes, he's met with the image of his gorgeous wife, the morning sun filtering in from their bedroom window making her hazel eyes look incredibly green, golden flecks showing as she smiles, the lilac bedsheet modestly covering her body, only her bare shoulders out.

"What?" Kate asks, her voice raspy from sleep. His thoughts must've somehow shown on his face, because she's arching an eyebrow at him and his speechlessness.

"Nothing," He shrugs nonchalantly, but she narrows her eyelids at him questioningly to press him on, so he continues, "Just… No one can love you more than I love you now."

He had expected one of her patented eye rolls, but instead her cheeks flush pink and she breaks into wide grin. Rick has no choice but to mirror her happiness: he'll never tire of seeing that smile.

"From the dazed look on your face I thought you were thinking back to last night." She teases, her tongue poking out from behind her teeth.

And oh, now _he's_ the one that's blushing.

He wriggles closer to her, wrapping his arm around her naked torso as she rests her head atop of his chest. This close, he can see all her little features: the little mole on her left cheek that he loves to cover with his lips, her dusting of freckles that had appeared after their summer vacation in the Hamptons, the crinkles on the outside edge of each eye from her laughter over the years.

"Well," He begins, drawing himself out of his trance, "That is part of the reason I love you." His eyebrows move up and down comically, causing her to swat at his chest lightly as her musical chuckle resonates in the morning air.

"Think we have enough time to do it again?" He whispers, tilting his head down to catch her lips with his, a hint of mint still present in her mouth from the night before.

She breaks the kiss off way too early for his liking, "No, unless you want the kids to be late to school."

He glances over her shoulder to see the blinking red numbers of their alarm clock, showing that it's just gone twenty passed six.

Despite this information, he swoops in again, pushing his tongue into her mouth when she opens it with a laugh. Both their hands wander for a couple of minutes, roaming each other's familiar bodies, until an incessant beeping sound breaks through the silence, letting them know that it's 6:30.

Kate huffs a sigh into his mouth then reluctantly peels herself away to tap the snooze button. She begins to move towards the end of the bed in order to get up, but Rick is quick to catch her, pinning her underneath him, their bodies flushed together once more.

"You know, I was late to school all the time and I turned out okay." He reasons, brushing his lips against her protruding collarbone.

She hums, as if mulling over his idea, then places one hand in his brunette locks and pulls him away from her now redder part of skin, "You also got kicked out of almost every school in New York."

He groans quietly at her exaggeration, making her giggle.

"Come on," she says, "The sooner the day starts, the sooner it finishes, and the sooner we can get back into bed and do a repeat performance of last night."

Rick jumps out of bed with a newfound energy, Kate throwing a pillow at his bare butt for his antics, before joining him in the bathroom, opening the shower curtain with a teasing glint in her eyes.

Yes, today's definitely going to be a good day.

* * *

While Kate goes to wake the kids up, he wanders around the kitchen, searching for ingredients to make breakfast with.

Behind a pack of curry flavoured instant noodles (their eldest's current favourite) he spots a small packet of chocolate chips and smiles to himself. Perfect.

* * *

By the time he's finished a stack of pancakes that might be enough to feed the family for the next three breakfasts, he hears footsteps padding down the stairs.

"Morning Dad." His seventeen year old daughter Riley greets, her chestnut brown hair tied at the nape of her neck into a loose braid, a smile gracing her face even though her crystal blue eyes show how tired she still is.

"Hey, munchkin." He replies, pushing a plate of two pancakes her way, slices of bananas forming two eyes and a smile.

Her grin increases as she glances up at her Dad whilst she shifts onto a chair at the counter, "Chocolate chip pancakes, what's the occasion?"

He shrugs, the towel that was effortlessly thrown onto his shoulder falling down to the countertop, "Just woke up happy, that's all."

Riley lifts her eyebrows in a way that makes her look just like her Mother, "'Woke up happy'? Should I be expecting another sibling?"

He's suddenly glad he hasn't taken a sip of his coffee yet, because it wouldn't definitely been spat out of his mouth at an alarming velocity. He opens his mouth to scold her – maybe even bring out the big guns and say her full name – but he's interrupted by the sound of his son coming down the stairs, his school backpack thudding against each step as he walks.

Rick looks over at his daughter, who only has a tight lipped smug smile on her face, "Nolan, excellent timing." She jokes as she stuffs a piece of banana into her mouth.

"What?" He mumbles in reply, his eyes finally lifting from the ground, his eyelids still half shut.

Castle bites the inside of his cheek in order to not let out a chuckle. His son's never been a morning person. Even when he was a baby twelve years ago, he would usually sleep for eight hours straight.

"Hi Daddy!" A voice perks up as shoe soles slap the stairs in a quick rhythm.

Which is why their next child was born only eleven months later.

"Morning, little one," He greets as Mila runs to the kitchen, though the nickname isn't quite true at the moment, since she's grown to be slightly taller than her brother, much to his despise.

The two youngest hop up onto their chairs and dig into their breakfasts: both have smiley faces made with fruit, Nolan's with grapes (since it's the only fruit he'll eat without a fuss) and Mila's with strawberries. All the siblings chat amicably in between bites, which Rick is thankful for as Kate slinks down the stairs herself, a textbook in hand.

"Noah, you're going to have difficulty doing your presentation on Tudors today if you don't have your History textbook." She says light-heartedly, placing the book into his bag for him as he lets out a muffled 'thank you' with a full mouth.

"Riles, mascara stain." Kate points out as she sees her eldest daughter, licking her thumb and rubbing it underneath her right eye over the black smudge.

" _Mom._ " Riley whines in response, squirming out of the way and instead using her spoon as a mirror to tidy up her makeup herself.

"Fine," Kate says as she begins to retreat into her own bedroom to change as she's still in her white patterned night gown, "Just thought that since you made the effort to wear make-up for Danielle, you'd want it to look good." She teases with a nudge to Riley's arm.

Nolan and Mila both perk up at this and in unison coo "Oooh, _Danielle!_ "

With impressive speed, the eldest places a piece of banana on her spoon and launches it in the direction of her two siblings.

"Hey!" Rick says loudly, aiming to chastise them, but with a grin on his own face, it's difficult.

Riley then throws another slice of banana at her Father, who manages to catch it in his mouth, making all the kids laugh.

"Come on, T-minus 14 minutes to the school buses, and you all still need to brush your teeth." He reminds them, draining the last of his coffee.

Then, the only sound heard in the kitchen is cutlery scraping against plates and mouths chewing food.

* * *

Riley's bus leaves the station first, and though Rick waves at his daughter through the window, she doesn't notice him at all, instead chatting with the three other girls that sit surrounding her. Her arms are waving about frantically as she no doubt dives into telling an anecdote. Riley definitely inherited his Mother's love of theatrics and his love of story-telling.

Nolan and Mila's bus passes next, Mila blowing a kiss from behind the window at her Dad, who then catches it and smears it all over his face. He searches for Nolan but can't spot him, until he sees a mop of brown hair pressed against the window with a head hanging down. Rick chuckles to himself. The boy could never get enough sleep.

He watches the vehicle until it turns into another street, which is when his phone starts vibrating in his pocket.

"Castle," He says as he answers, a habit he still does even though he doesn't work with Beckett as much anymore now.

"Good morning, Mr Castle," A man speaks, "the bracelet you custom ordered is ready for pick up today. Want to come by or should I send it to your address?"

Unashamedly, Rick does a little jump on the spot in excitement, "Excellent, Tobias, thanks. I'll swing by in about thirty minutes, if that's alright?"

"Of course, see you soon." The jeweller replies cheerfully, then hangs up.

He begins to head in the direction of the jeweller's, strolling at a leisurely pace. Though it's only just passed eight, the weather is incredibly pleasant. The sun is settled up high in the sky with only a scattering of white clouds. The air is crisp but still warm enough, making Castle happy that he'd chosen to wear a light dress shirt instead of a sweater.

He consumes each aspect of the environment as he walks. The sound of bird twittering up above, communicating in their own secret language. Children joking around with their parents on the way to school, skipping along sidewalks and hopping over cracks. The light spray of water he feels hitting his exposed forearms as he passes a fountain, though the sun warms up the patch immediately. Everything seems to be in harmony today.

* * *

When he reaches a familiar doorway, he pauses and enters cautiously, almost bumping into a stranger.

"Oh, sorry!" The young woman spits out, tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"No worries," Rick smiles earnestly, "I'm not fully aware before my morning coffee either." He admits, gesturing down to the cup in the woman's hand.

She chuckles at him and nods before shifting to the side in order to leave.

He lets out a quiet 'bye' as he shuffles forward in order to join the queue.

The coffee shop is surprisingly calm for being so crowded. He loves local coffee shops for this purpose. He could easily find a Starbucks nearby – there's on one every corner – but the simplicity and intimacy of a smaller business is so much more pleasing to him. The autumnal theme lingers around him as he looks at ruby red plastic chairs and mahogany wooden panelling on the walls.

"Hello, can I help you?"

A woman with auburn hair tied up tightly in a neat bun greets him with a large smile. She in turn makes his spirits lift even more as he recites his coffee order, handing over $10 and his loyalty card.

She scans the card then raises her gaze back to him, "You have enough points on your card for a free large coffee, would you like to use them?"

"Yeah, sure," He replies immediately, a feeling of happiness and almost pride welling up in his chest due to this simple act.

The worker hands him his cardboard cup of coffee with the $10 placed precariously on the top. "Have a nice day!" She says perkily.

He knows it will be.

* * *

Rick made it to the jeweller's about thirty minutes later after a casual detour to Central Park. He had sat on a vacant bench as he sipped at his beverage, reminiscing on the times he'd come here with his family, teaching the children how to ride bikes, the girls having cartwheel competitions, all of them eating hotdogs with ketchup and mustard dripping onto their hands, then smearing it over each other's faces and clothes with laughter.

He reminisces again on those memories before Tobias pulls him out of his daze, "Here you go, Mr Castle. Want me to open it so you can check that it's what you expected?"

With a curt nod, he watches as Tobias carefully pries open the sleek black box to show a shimmering silver bracelet placed inside. Rick gingerly picks up the piece of jewellery, holding it as if it's sacred. He turns it and admires the perfectly cut gems that are symmetrically distanced. Three birthstones, one for each child. He flips over the bracelet to see the three birthdates engraved on the inside behind each stone.

"Thank you so much, Tobias," Rick says as he drops the bracelet back onto the cushion in the box, "Kate will love it."

The man's eyes glisten as he takes in the praise, and the two part amicably minutes later.

With a discreet black bag in his hands, he walks with a spring in his step. Rick imagines how Kate will react when he gives her the present on their 'get-together anniversary'.

How at first she will protest, insisting that a 'get-together anniversary' is _not_ a thing, and that their anniversary is now their wedding date. How she'll roll her eyes when he explains how their wedding anniversary doesn't overrule the anniversary they celebrated before they got married. How she'll scoff at him when he instructs her to stop complaining and just open the box. How her eyes will widen when she first sets them on the bracelet, then how they'll water when she realises the deeper meaning of the beautiful stones.

He's so wrapped up in his thoughts that he never sees the cab coming.

* * *

 _"The day I died was the best day of my life,_

 _Tell my friends and my kids and my wife,_

 _Everything's gonna be alright,_

 _The day I died was the best day of my life."_

 **"The Day I Died" – Just Jack**

* * *

 ***Runs away***

 **Lou xo**


End file.
